Category Archives: Interesting Topic

A new injection treatment called a vampire lift is gaining attention for the youth it may add to the face, according to businessweek.com.

Patients who choose to undergo vampire face lifts may do so to combat signs of aging on the face. Even with proper skin care, time and gravity take hold and wrinkles can begin to appear in places like the nasolabial folds, or laugh lines.

While patients currently may choose injectable fillers to diminish the appearance of wrinkles and lines, some plastic surgeons are looking at vampire face lifts as a means to reverse some aging factors.

The way vampire face lifts work is not actually like a facelift surgery, but a procedure that uses components of the patient’s own blood. Platelets and fibrin in the blood has been shown to increase collagen production and strengthen connective tissues to repair some injuries.

Once the surgeon takes a sample of blood and has separated the platelets and fibrin, they are mixed with calcium chloride and prepared then injected into aged areas of the face.

Weeks after the procedure, it was found that at the treatment site, new collagen and blood vessels had developed. Researchers found that at ten weeks after patients underwent the vampire facelifts, the effects evened out, but should be long-lasting.

As vampire face lifts still must seek FDA approval, some plastic surgeons are skeptical of the benefits of the treatment.

Plastic surgeon and former AAPS president Phil Haeck told Los Angeles Daily News that more research should be done on the procedure. As Haeck says, plastic surgeons ensure that little to no blood is left behind in a traditional facelift, so he is unsure how placing blood under the skin achieves the desired result.

Haeck adds that his opinion on vampire face lifts could be changed, but that he needs to see further evidence of the procedure’s effects and safety.

A new surgical adhesive may improve patient healing after plastic surgery, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Most often when patients who undergo a procedure like a body lift, in which excess fat and skin are removed circumferentially around the midsection, the incisions are closed with sutures. A side effect of a surgery like this is that fluid can build up in the areas around the sutures. As such, patients must often wear surgical drains for days and sometimes even weeks following treatment. This can leave the incision open for infection and the tubes themselves can be bothersome for patients.

TissuGlu, the surgical adhesive which was recently approved for use in Europe, is administered quickly and can greatly improve patient experience. The product, which does not require mixing or refrigerating, is applied by the plastic surgeon who places drops of it along the incision. The process takes just a couple of minutes and achieves a full bond in 30 to 45 minutes. In some cases, it may reduce a patient’s recovery time.

In testing of the surgical adhesive in 2009, none of the 40 patients tested at three different hospitals experienced complications. The ease of use and lack of complications in this testing of the surgical adhesive may be due in part to its components. While similar to other adhesives, TissuGlu is primarily made up of amino acids. These components are absorbed by the body as water, sugar and carbon dioxide.

Though European approval has already taken place, clinical testing is scheduled to take place in the US in early 2012 and the application for FDA approval is to be submitted by the end of this year.

To learn more about advances in plastic surgery, like this surgical adhesive or specials on non-surgical treatments in the meantime, please join the mailing list of Philadelphia plastic surgeon Dr. Genter.

Following her successful full face transplant last month, a woman who was attacked by a pet chimp two years ago should regain more functions as she heals, according to CNN.

While Nash is actually the third person to receive a full face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the nature of her injuries made the procedure much more involved.

Nash, who has been featured in Oprah, sustained her injuries in early 2009 when a chimpanzee owned by one of her friends violently attacked her. Though the attack was halted by police, the chimp had already caused extensive damage to Nash’s face, neck and hands.

Though Nash had already undergone some reconstructive surgeries on her face, as well as an unsuccessful hand transplant for both hands, this full face transplant should restore many natural functions. As the full face transplant heals, Nash’s doctors say she should regain the ability to smell, make facial expressions and to eat solid foods.

Dr. Elof Eriksson, chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery, called the full face transplant surgery a “tremendous success” and Nash’s brother sees the result of the surgery as “miraculous.”

Despite still having a long road to recovery, Nash remains what others call “courageous and strong,” and has goals as she heals from her full face transplant. Nash hopes to visit her favorite hotdog stand with her brother and to attend her child’s college graduation.

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